


The Bathroom Scene™

by alwayswithfred



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, M/M, One Shot, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 03:50:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7742215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwayswithfred/pseuds/alwayswithfred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A re-telling of that one famous scene in Half-Blood Prince where Harry curses Draco with the Sectumsempra spell, but more fluffy this time instead of stupid fighting. It's very very old, I wrote it a year ago or so, please don't judge too harshly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bathroom Scene™

As soon as Draco left the Great Hall, Harry knew he was onto something. And, considering that he had left immediately when he saw Katie, all the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fitted. It was Draco who had cursed the necklace. It had to be. With this thought in his head, Harry immediatly made his way out of the Great Hall to follow Malfoy to wherever he was going. He ran after him, with his heart beating at the same speed that his brain had reached that conclusion, because now he knew what Draco had been doing all that time. He could see, from the small distance that separated them, that Malfoy was nervous. But, in that moment, he couldn't know _how_ he actually was. He wouldn't have know about the pressure Malfoy felt in his lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

Draco came into one of the multiple bathrooms Hogwarts had, and Harry followed him without hesitation. But he didn't want the Slytherin to see him, so he kept the distance and stayed peering from the door frame, waiting for Malfoy to do something. For his surprise, he just leaned against one of the sinks and looked at himself in the mirror. His face was completely shattered, as much as the old glass of the mirror was. He looked paler than he'd ever been, as if someone had taken the bit of colour of his face. It was strange for Harry to see Malfoy like that. All those years, he had been a horrible and inhuman person. And now... he was crying. His shoulders where shaking uncontrollably, and the sound of his weeping broke something inside of Harry. Draco suddenly didn't look like the boy he'd hated for all those years. He didn't look like the prat that had been teasing him and calling Harry and his friends names for all those years. Sure, Harry couldn't leave that behing, but as he looked at this new version of Draco, he felt a know on his throat. Behind all the appearances, Malfoy  _was weak_ . 

Malfoy closed his eyes and threw his head down as he tried to calm himself. His whole body looked defeated, as if he'd been putting up with something for too long. He didn't manage to calm down. His face was not yet wet with tears, but the simple sound of crying was heartbroken. He opened his eyes and looked up, trying again to keep it together. He was a Malfoy, he couldn't lose it because of this. His family did this all the time. He had to cope with it. As his eyes rose, looking at the mirror again, Draco stumbled upon a figure watching him. Harry hadn't been too careful, after all. When their eyes met, Malfoy tried even harder to keep a straight face, to look as he always did -tough, unbreakable, like he thought (knew) he was better than anyone around him- but his breathing was becoming more irregular and anxious. He was hopeless, with that look in his eyes still staring into the reflection, so wide that they made him seem like he wasn't actually looking at anything. Just laying there, not sensing what was around. Draco himself was more than a little absent. Harry felt bad for him, and he suddenly found himself walking through the room to where Malfoy was standing, still leaning against the sink.

—What's wrong, Malfoy? —Harry asked, as loud as he could.

He didn't know why he was doing that. Malfoy was the  _villain_ here, he was supposed to be the  _hero_. There should be no talking-and-supporting between those characters. It made no sense. Still, there was something in this one Malfoy here, right now, that took him out of his role. There was no characters in that moment, and Malfoy didn't look like anything besides the basics of what he actually was: human, just a teenager, and suffering.

Draco didn't say a thing for a while. He stood quiet, his shoulders still shaking as his sobs became audible ocasionally. Even though he know Malfoy didn't have the strenght to start a fight, Harry remained alert, his wand in his right hand, just in case the Slytherin suddenly turned against him.

Malfoy muttered something that sounded like "Go away", but Harry didn't pay attention to him. Now that he had seen him like this, he wasn't going to leave until the boy had stopped crying. Despite this boy being Draco Malfoy, Harry couldn't stand seeing anyone this miserable. It was an insctint, he had to do something.

—I'm not here to fight —he assured, taking small, careful steps deeper into the bathroom—. I just... I didn't know you were like this, Malfoy. You should've told someone... You could've told Dumbledore what they were forcing you into. He would've known a way to help you... —even as he said this, he knew it didn't make any sense, and that this words wouldn't be helpful for Draco. He kept approaching to where he was, silently.

Malfoy let out a cold, desperate laugh.

—You know nothing about what I've been through. Stop acting as if you were some kind of genius just because you're supposed to be the Chosen One.

His voice went out cold, almost like he was spitting them, but even then Harry could tell he was still holding back the tears, his shoulders still shaking.

—Look... I just want to help, okay? You've done bad things this year and I know that, and I'm still not going to disregard that fact, but... I didn't know you were this miserable.

The sound that Malfoy was making was now impossible to tell apart from a laugh or a cry. It was both at the same time, so rough and sharp it could cut just as the pieces of glass on the floor.

—I had no choice, Potter.

Those words were enough. Now, Draco didn't only seem hopeless. He sounded hopeless. Slowly, he turned and looked right into Harry's eyes. Malfoy's were red, open wide and letting know more with a look than words could have said. Now, Harry couldn't shake the thought out of his head: had Voldemort threatened to kill Malfoy's family? That was for sure, maybe even worse. Maybe he had told the boy he would hurt them, torture them until Draco had completed his task. Harry knew Draco wasn't exactly a good person, but he also knew that basically anyone would prefer to do anything if it meant the ones they loved were safe. He knew he'd do almost anything to keep Hermione, Ron, or, if they were still with him, his parents and Sirius. Almost. Because was Draco was attempting to do was very, very serious. 

It was as if two different points of view were fighting inside Harry's head: whether to forgive Malfoy for what he had done for just a second, or to remind himself what he had been trying to do. But he had reasons. He had  _influence._ He had grown up between death eaters, inside a family that had told him this was the right thing to do, whether he liked it or not. And, after all, he was just a kid. 16 years and he had been threatened into killing someone.

Harry shook his head violently, as he remembered this was not why he'd entered that bathroom. In this moment, all he wanted to do was reassure Malfoy and tell him they could find a way out of it, even if this was a lie. And so Harry Potter suddenly ran into Draco Malfoy, but not as enemies, not as people about to tear each other down. Simply as people. At first, the hug was awkward, as it was obvious it would be, but then Draco seemed to relax into Harry's arms and buried his head into Harry's shoulder. It seemed he was about to start crying again. Harry would've never thought he'd see Draco this weak, and there he was, weeping into his arms.

—I had no choice, Harry. —he whispered, again, like it was some kind of broken record he kept saying on and on.

—It'll be okay, Draco. I promise. —Harry said as he kept holding him into his arms.

In that moment, Harry couldn't help but let out a small, timid smile because of two things. First, Draco hadn't called him by his last name. He couldn't even remember if this had ever happened before. And second -a thing he already knew-, now he couldn't let him go. He wanted to hug him until he got better. He wanted to hold him until all his pieces came back together. And so he did.

 


End file.
